The CD-ROMs created by Phronésis
are hypertext tools intended for the reading of literary and philosophical
works. Phronésis considers that a great number of texts which have
long been viewed as abstruse and unreadable are in fact carrying in embryo
there own hypertext development. The processing tool brings to the fore
the intricate structure of the text (without ever exhausting its possibilities)
and lays it out in directly accessible and visualized ramifications. The
text is neither simplified nor impoverished ; its potentialities are given
concrete expression as the reader follows up significant connections through
its dense, organic matter. We do not mean that such texts would be any
less interesting without computerized processing, but just that the search
tool can both make their reading easier and disinstitutionalize their access,
opening them up to a larger audience.

In short, far from considering that books
are dead, we aim at putting multimedia development at their service. Although
the touch and feel of a book is lost on the screen, we are convinced that
this kind of multimedia publishing is invaluable and we hope to reach all
those who still like to immerse themselves in books.

As new products become available, Phronésis
will announce and present its new CD-ROMs created with "Daedalus". Any
suggestion, information or proposal is welcome ; it will be a precious
help for developing a multimedia publishing network concerned with combining
a critical forum with the defence of books.

This CD-ROM has been conceived by a small
team of professors from the hypertext tool DAEDALUS, which is an exclusivity
of PHRONESIS.

A.
INTRODUCING THE CD-ROM

"Let there be no misunderstanding as to the purpose and contents of
this CD-ROM. There is no secret, no "hinterworld" of the Ethics, that images
might undertake to reveal. Indeed, our aim is merely to send the reader
back to the text and let it evince its own inexhaustible potentialities
via the the computing tool. If, as Plato indicated in Phaedra, the fate
of any writing was to become a dead letter, how could we aim higher than
at bearing witness to a book's life ? A book indeed, whose geometrical
structure alone might justify such an attempt at uncovering and displaying
its complexities. That is why you will find no comment, no explanation
here, but the reference edition of the text itself together with some of
its French and English versions, and a suggestion of a few tracks users
might wish to explore. All directions will point one way, to the letter
and the spirit of the Ethics. Users will be constantly in a position to
print on paper what appears on the screen, as well as their progress through
the Ethics."

The Welcome Page of "Reading the Ethics" is displayed at the
end of the credits' pages and enables the user to access the French and
English versions of the CD-ROM, to print the versions, to open the Help
system or to quit the CD-ROM. This page includes one medallion of Spinoza
with five buttons representing a "Caute" that give access to the different
functions of the CD-ROM.

From the Welcome Page, you can choose between a French and an English
version of "Reading the Ethics". The French version is selected by default
at the end of the credits' page, but you always have the possibility to
access the English version of "Daedalus" using the "Caute" button labelled
"Reading the Ethics". This button opens the English Welcome Page with all
commands in English.

You then have access to the English interface of the CD-ROM (help, commands,
etc.). Of course, the French versions of the Ethics and the texts written
by the pedagogical team remain in French. But the Help and all commands
are available in English.

BOULAINVILLIERS* : First
french version, 18th century, introduced in 1907 by Colonna d'Istria
ELWES* : English version, 1883GEBHARDT : Latin text of reference,
1924GUERINOT : French version, 1930SAISSET* : French version, 1842(* Versions fallen in the public domain
fully available for printing)

Pedagogical version:

This version includes notes from the Phronésis team
about the vocabulary used in the Ethics. Built up from th Guérinot
version, the pedagogical version includes additional jumps to notes intended
to highlight some major potential misinterpretations. These notes written
by the pedagogical team should not be considered as definitions or exegesis
points (click on the "Caute" at the beginning of the document or on the
red point in the non-scrolling area of jump windows to display the introductory
note about the version).
Note: the pedagogical version is only available in French.

Underground version:

The underground version is a partial version (built up from
the French translation by Guérinot) established after an idea of
Gilles Deleuze. This version includes only the notes (scholia), i.e. mostly
special cases and the polemical contents of the Ethics.

"So there are two Ethics coexisting, one made up of the continuous line
or flow of propositions, demonstrations and corollaries, and the other
one discontinuous, made up of the broken line, the volcanic chain of notes.
One with an implacable rigor represents some kind of terrorism of the mind
and progresses from one proposition to the next without any concern for
practical consequences, works out its own rules without in the least caring
about identifying special cases. The other one collects the indignations
of the heart, shows a practical joy and a practical fight against sadness,
and expresses itself by saying : "This is the case". In this sense, the
Ethics is a double work. It might be interesting to read the second Ethics
under the first one by jumping from one note to the next one". (Gilles
Deleuze. "Spinoza et le problème de l'Expression", Ed. de Minuit.
Extract translated by Phronésis.)

This version tries modestly to grant Deleuze's wish (click on the "Caute"
at the beginning of the document to display the note of the version).

Annex documents:

Annex documents are the texts available in addition to the various translations
of the Ethics and to the special versions. You can access several types
of documents:

A text by Pierre Christory:This text describes the problematic relationship between Neoplatonism
(particularly Proclus's Elements of Theology) and Spinoza.

A text by Stéphane Bonnet:This text describes the relationship between Ethics and Politics in
the work.

A bibliography:
The bibliography includes a series of works relative to Spinoza. It
is an international bibliography. This document is introduced by a list
of books that refer to the translations available on the CD-ROM.

A statistical document (comparative statistics):
This comparative table proposes a comparison of the vocabulary used
in the three French translations of the Ethics (Boulainvilliers, Guérinot
and Saisset). It includes four columns. The first column contains all words
existing in these three translations of the text. The three next columns
contain the number of occurrences of these words in each version. As you
will note, certain words very common in a translation do not appear at
all in another translation. From any number of occurrences, you can jump
back to the Ethics.

Note: the texts written by Pierre Christory and Stéphane
Bonnet are only available in French.

1) Explicit jumps established by Spinoza (immanent jumps) that refer
to one or several segments of the Ethics. These jumps appear as blue interactive
areas and are recorded in the history.

2) Implicit jumps established by Spinoza (immanent jumps) that refer
to one or several segments of the Ethics that need to be defined according
to the context (these jumps are often designated using a demonstrative
form). Implicit jumps appear as blue interactive areas and are recorded
in the history.

3) Jumps established by Spinoza referring to another work of Spinoza.
These jumps appear as green dots and are recorded in the history.

4) Jumps established by Spinoza referring to a work from another author
: Descartes, Euclid, etc. These jumps appear as green dots and are recorded
in the history.

5) Jumps corresponding to a note of Spinoza about the Ethics. These
jumps appear as blue asterisks and are recorded in the history.

6) Sound jumps corresponding to immanent jumps referring to single propositions
of the Ethics. These jumps appear as a small icon representing a speaker.
They are always followed by the corresponding text of the jump : so, you
have the possibility to hear or to display it. Sound jumps are recorded
in the history with the mention "Renv. sonore".

Jumps not established by Spinoza

1) Jumps referring to another work. Example : St Thomas d'Aquin. These
jumps appear as red dots and are not recorded in the history.

2) Jumps to notes written by the Phronésis team. These notes
include : observations marking differences between the jumps made by translators,
remarks about the consistency of the text or about the destination of implicit
jumps. These jumps appear as red dots and are not recorded in the history.

3) Jumps to notes written by the Phronésis team and introducing
the different versions. These jumps are materialized by a "Caute" that
appears at the beginning of the versions.

4) Jumps to notes written by the Phronésis team about pedagogical
points. These jumps are available only in the pedagogical version. They
appear as green interactive areas and are not recorded in the history.

5) Jumps to notes written by a translator of the Ethics. These jumps
appear as red dots and are not recorded in the history.

6) Jumps to notes written by Colonna d'Istria commenting the Boulainvilliers
version. These jumps appear as grey dots and are not recorded in the history.

7) Jumps to drawings that facilitate the understanding of the geometrical
examples introduced by Spinoza. These jumps appear as red dots and are
not recorded in the history.

Notes:Please note that the text of the Ethics includes a great number of
jumps. The choice of the display mode (single or double display) determines
the position of jumps on screen.

Notes written by the pedagogical team are only available in french.
Notes from the authors are not translated.

You can access all documents available from the left and right
combo boxes. The list includes the five versions of the Ethics, with their
tables of contents and statistic files, two special versions (Underground
version and Pedagogical version) and several annex documents (two philosophical
texts, a bibliography and comparative statistics).

The hypertext tool "Daedalus" is conceived to display the different
versions of the Ethics both in single and double display mode.

In single display mode, the documents of "Reading the Ethics" available
in the combo-boxes are displayed full-screen.

In double display mode, you can display simultaneously two documents
: one in the left part of the screen and the other one in the right part
of the screen. For example, when you display simultaneously a translation
of the Ethics and a document, you are in double display mode.

SINGLE DISPLAY (Example: Elwes version)

DOUBLE DISPLAY (Gebhardt version / Elwes version)

Note: When you are better acquainted with "Reading
the Ethics", you will learn how to combine all these functions to choose,
compare, confront and develop certain aspects of the Ethics. For example,
it may be interesting to display one single version in double display mode
(Guérinot on the left and Guérinot on the right) to keep
the main text visible during one session. etc. Everyone will adopt their
own strategy according to their needs. This freedom of choice is one of
the main advantages of "Daedalus".

During a session in single or double display mode, you can
choose the way jump windows appear. You can display jumps in one single
window. Then you will be able to identify the level of jumps and to read
them without "overloading" the screen. You can also choose to reflect the
complexity of jumps on screen if you want to navigate through the different
levels of the tree-structure.

In single display, jumps appear in a small jump window displayed over
the main text (superimposed). In double display mode, if you work on the
document displayed on the left side, any jump window corresponding to that
document appear over the document displayed on the right side. Inversely,
if you work on the document displayed on the right side, any jump window
corresponding to that document appear over the document displayed on the
left side. So you may read the main text of the Ethics and view the jumps
simultaneously.

To use one single jump window :Open the menu box displayed on the right side of the button bar by
clicking on the down arrow and select Single-Level Jumps. The successive
levels of jumps will all be displayed in the same window.

SINGLE-LEVEL JUMP (SINGLE DISPLAY)

SINGLE-LEVEL JUMP (DOUBLE DISPLAY)

To use cascaded jumps:Open the menu box displayed on the right side of the button bar by
clicking on the down arrow and select Cascaded Jumps. Any jump called from
one jump window appears in another jump window that overlaps the bottom
part of the first one. Cascaded windows are displayed so that the title
(indicating the level and the contents of the jump) of each window remains
visible. This method allows you to display simultaneously all successive
levels of jumps and to obtain a global visual representation of the tree-structure.

In double display mode, you can scroll independently through
the version displayed on the right side. Then, if the argumentative segments
displayed on the left and on the right do not match, you can choose to
synchronize both documents according to the right side or according to
the left side. If you synchronize according to the right side, the text
displayed on the left automatically scrolls down or up to the argumentative
segment actually displayed in the right side. If you synchronize according
to the left side, the text displayed on the right will automatically scroll
down or up to the argumentative segment actually displayed in the left
side.

To synchronize according to the left side:In the yellow bar, of the document displayed on the left, click on
the small arrow pointing to the right.

To synchronize according to the right side:In the yellow bar, of the document displayed on the right, click on
the small arrow pointing to the left.

The search function is one of the most useful functions available
for researchers. It allows you to search for a word or a sentence in any
document, except in the statistical files (a specific search function is
available in statistical files), and to know the exact number of occurrences
of that word or that sentence.

The history function allows you to keep a log of your course
through the Ethics and between the different versions available, to know
the jump levels and to resume a course or to branch off from a saved course.

HISTORY WINDOW

Source areaThe source area is the name of the argumentative segment from which
you call a jump in the Ethics. For example, in the Proposition 1 of Part
I, Spinoza referring to the Definitions 3 and 5 of Part I. The Proposition
1 is the source area of the jump (in the History this source area will
appear as : "L1 pro 1"). Do not confuse the destination area that can include
several segments and the source area that is always unique.

Destination areaThe destination area is the name of the argumentative segment(s) to
which Spinoza is referring in the main text of the Ethics. For example,
in the Proposition 1 of Part I, Spinoza is referring to the Definitions
3 and 5 of Part I. The destination area includes the Definitions 3 and
5 (in the History it will appear as : "P1 déf 3 + déf 5").
Do not confuse the source area that is always unique and the destination
area that can include several segments.

Statistical files include all words and signs contained in
the different versions of the Ethics. Words are ordered alphabetically
and the various types of numbering are sent to the end of the list.

Statistical files do not only cover integrally the lexical fields of
the different versions ; they also allow you to jump back to the text.
Each occurrence of the listed words is interactive and allows you to jump
back to the corresponding version of the Ethics.

Search function in statistical files:Statistical files include a search function that allows you to search
for one word without having to scroll through a very long list.

To search for one word, click on the small magnifying glass displayed
in the upper right angle of the statistical file window. A small search
window appears. Type the chosen word in the entry box and click on OK.

The annotation function allows you to write your own notes
and comments about the Ethics. You can view, save, correct, delete or print
these texts as needed. This tool will be useful for the researchers, professors
and students who want to study Spinoza's work or compare the different
translations.

This function also allows you to write your own translation of the Ethics.
In this case, before printing, we advise you to note the name of the version
from which you are creating annotations. This will be useful for classifying
your documents.

The annotation function is operational both in single display and double
display mode.

During a session in "Reading the Ethics", you always have the
possibility to print the information displayed on the screen. For example,
you can print a screen in double display mode with a series of secondary
windows opened in cascade. You can also change the position of these windows
before starting the printing.

When you are satisfied with the information displayed, start the printing
by clicking on the Print button or by choosing Print Hardcopy in the File
menu.

The button "Versions for printing" of the Welcome Page allows you to
open the versions available for printing, i.e. the versions fallen in the
public domain (Boulainvilliers, Elwes and Saisset), in Word Viewer, a tool
that includes all the display and printing functions, but that does not
allow edition.

In the future we shall publish on our Web
site a text (in French) written by the designer of "Reading the Ethics"
and one of the professors who participated to the project. This texts will
try to demonstrate, using the functionalities of "Daedalus", the validity
of Gilles Deleuze's thesis, which distinguishes two coexisting Ethics:
"one made up of the continuous line or flow of propositions, demonstrations
and corollaries", and an underground version , "discontinuous, made up
of the broken line, the volcanic chain of notes".